DECIMA RACCOLTA: “CAMPANIA FELIX”, Napoli 2014

SCELTA DI POESIE TRATTE DALLA MIA PRIMA SILLOGE POETICA “SOLARIA”, NAPOLI 1998, FINO ALLA NONA RACCOLTA “UN ANNO”, NAPOLI 2013, CON POESIE TRADOTTE IN INGLESE CON TESTO ITALIANO A FRONTE, DAL CARISSIMO AMICO AMERICANO JEFF MATTHEWS.

 

GIACOMO GARZYA, “CAMPANIA FELIX”, ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND NOTES BY JEFF MATTHEWS, NAPOLI 2014, M.D’AURIA EDITORE, pp. 1-126 (ON THE COVER: “VESUVIANA”, WATERCOLOUR BY DANIELA PERGREFFI).

 

 

I present these English translations of Giacomo Garzya’s images of his native Campania very cautiously. After all, almost everyone has words of warning about translation:

 

“Translation from one language into another…is like gazing at a Flemish tapestry

with the wrong side out.”  (Cervantes)

 

“Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”  (Robert Frost)

 

Yet we all know the difference between a good translation and a bad one. And we all know how indebted we are to the centuries of translators who have given us with the literature of other cultures, ancient and modern.

 

In the sense of the 20th-century form known as “Imagism”, Garzya favors precision, even isolation, of single images and clear, sharp language. As with all poets, he has a sense of cadence and euphony but is less interested in formal meter and rhyme than in the brief flash that lets the reader see something new. It might have been more convenient to present his poems in paragraph form and call it a prose translation. I have chosen instead to follow the erratic typographic form chosen by the poet, single lines (even of a single word), one above the other, to achieve the effect of a parade of images.

 

I have tried not to inject myself into his lines and have provided a few notes for some of his references that might not be familiar to the non-Italian reader. To the extent that I have succeeded, I am content; if I have failed, well, give my regards to Cervantes and Robert Frost.

 

 

JEFF MATTHEWS

 

JERANTO

 

Between Capitello and Montalto

the black-bluish coccole,

the reds of the lentischio¹

and all the others

crown the earth.

 

Festively spread

before us

in the evening

 

passions

the purple heavens

when the northwest wind calms,

fires die

and heavy damp

rules the air

 

Scopolo

Stella

Faraglione di terra

and Monacone.²

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Solaria”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 32)

notes:

1.The poet is precise in his use of idiomatic names of local vegetation. The coccola is the small cone-like fruit of some kinds of the cypress tree. The lentischio (plural: lentischi) is called a Mastic shrub in English and produces bright black-blue flowers.

2. Scopolo, Stella, Faraglione di Terra and Monacone are the names of the prominent rock formations at the east end of the isle of Capri. The first three are called collectively the “Faraglioni”. Monacone is a small offshore rock formation. All are very visible from Jeranto.

 

 

FRAGMENTS OF PROCIDA

 

The ancient colors

of the houses vanish

in the clouds of spring

 

This

for an instant,

then there is light,

from the trimmed walls

sprigs of golden lemons

strung like bells strike

hymns of joy.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 45)

 

 

CORRICELLA OF PROCIDA¹  

 

Clamber up

the tight improbable steps,

leaving the colors of the boats

behind,

 

up to fiery Epomeo

and look in wonder

at the Marina

mirrored in orange

though the burning mirror

of a window,

 

up to the Dome of the Grazie²

to recall the Martyrs,

those of ’99,³

from all classes

witnesses to liberty,

too many gallows for an island.

 

Today, as yesterday,

Marina di Corricella

hold fast your gaze

on the piled houses

clinging, defending

 

with unsheathed claws,

colored like the fishing nets

piled, too, atop the cats,

an ubi consistam,⁴

they come out from under,

lazy and unaware.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, pp. 46-47)

Notes:

1. Corricella di Procida is a small harbor on the island of Procida.
2. Grazie refers to the church of S. Maria delle Grazie.
3. ’99 (the poet wrote it as Novantanove) is a reference to the failed republican revolution of the so-called ‘Parthenopean Republic’ of 1799. ‘Martyrs’ refers to the victims of royalist reprisals.
4. Ubi consistam. “Da mihi ubi consistam, terramque movebo” is the Latin translation of Archimedes’ words rendered in English as “Give me a place on which to stand, and I will move the world”. Thus, ubi consistam as a noun in the poem means “a place where I find sustenance”.

 

 

FALANGA OF ISCHIA¹  

 

At sunset in the Falanga wood

the soft hues,

amber

grey-brown

and reddish,

of velvet trees

shade slowly down from

the hermitage of Epomeo

to the walls

above Forio.

 

The air is crisp

over Santo Stefano and the islands,²

the setting sun shows

the gaudy depths of the sea.

 

Now the dazzling portal

of the sun leads

from the beaches

to the silent rustlings

of Falanga.

 

The arch is striking,

not Cyclopean

but light and strong

lava rocks assembled like

those of the Greeks.

 

Titian,

(the sun on the horizon)

though well used to

carpets of fallen leaves

still living and

rich with hues,

would have besung

the colors.

 

Mosses brought to life

by filtered light

on the damp walls

draw and shape

ancient and new.

 

It is nature’s game.

 

Enchanted Falanga

between quenching springs

and ancient hollows

that collect the snow,

 

Soon reborn as flowers of Spring.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 48-50)

notes:

1. The Falanga is a large, well-known chestnut wood on the island of Ischia.
2. Santo Stefano is a small island in the Pontian archipelago 35 km to the west of, and well visible from, Ischia.

 

 

 

THE STRAITS OF CAPRI

 

The wave

throws back the foam

a heart looks

at the horizon

the current

trembles white

 

love-white

 

The sun glitters

and lights

the movement

of the wave

while foam

at last reaches

the Straits of Capri

 

love-white

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 51)

 

 

THE PIZZOLUNGO OF CAPRI¹   

 

Flashes of silver

calm the waters of the sea,

wild leaves don’t always

hide the cliffs from the setting sun.

 

On Pizzolungo

evening falls

the breeze prickles

the restless soul

on the bold rocks

high and sturdy

 

haven of gulls

torment of men.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 52)

notes:

1. Pizzolungo is the name of a scenic coastal path along the southern coast of the island of Capri with a view to the sea, the Faraglioni rocks and across to the Sorrentine peninsula.

 

 

CONCA DEI MARINI¹  

 

Enchanted sea

the cliff watches

while the south-west wind

tests the ancient tower.

 

A struggle with no quarter

between sea-foam

and clear-cut rocks.

 

When the waters swell

even the green brush

is steeped by you

Enchanted sea.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 54)

notes:

1.Conca dei Marini is a hill town near the coast, not far from Amalfi.

 

 

VETTICA DI PRAIANO¹  

 

At Cava de lo Grado²

the stern tower above

this black fjord

holds watch,

 

the sun on the sea

filters the waltzing light

 

The curtain rises

The wisterias dance.³

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 55)

notes:

1.Vettica di Praiano, like Conca di Marina, is one of the towns near Amalfi.

2. At Vettica di Praiano there is a tower called Torre (tower) Grado (the place name) next to a trench, the Cava, called Cava de lo Grado.
3. The stage and dance terms refer to the well-known (at least to locals) presence of Rudolf Nuryev on Li Galli islands off the Amalfi Coast.

 

 

POSITANO

 

The cuoccio¹ lies in the sand

scent of iodine and wind,

To one side Fornillo

and Vetara

And Li Galli.²

 

High spindrift

whitens the hair

A gull, as if stunned in flight,

suddenly swerves.

 

Boats safely moored

yellow-white

blue-white

wait for spring.

 

It is raining now

The cloud banks pass

swiftly.

 

The nets

as agile as serpents

wend up the ramps.

 

Now in the distance

lightning sings

a strident hymn

to the sea.

 

Below, the majolic

of Maria Assunta

in Cielo³

A palm sways

amid vivid colors

of houses arrayed

like an ancient theater.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 56-57)

notes:

1. Cuoccio. Dialect term for a fish common in many seas of the world, known in English by various names: gurnet, and, commonly, the Hawaiian term mahi-mahi.
2. Fornillo, Vetara and Li Galli. The first is a small beach at Positano; Vetara and Li Galli are islands off the Amalfi coast.
3. Reference to the majolica tile dome of the church of Maria Assunta in Cielo in Positano.

 

 

GENEROSA CIVALE OF NERANO

 

“Thinking is an illness

Walking is medicine

Jealousy is poison.”

 

Amidst the walls

of bluish berries

and brown pods,

donkeys no longer teeter

on the ragged slopes

loaded with rusty wares

along unmortared walls.

 

It is not the

de La Bruyères²

who tell us

how to live,

but rather the

weathered skin

of old devotion.

 

Speech, the golden coin

of ancient wisdom

just a step

from Jeranto

and from the Silentium

of Villa Rosa.³

 

She may have railed

against that reprobate

Norman Douglas,

but she asked

if we are Catholic.

 

If not for our own haste in

these places known to Gods,

She’d have been

a fine and ceaseless

flow of opinion.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 58-59)

notes:

1. The poem is a tribute to Generosa Civale, recently deceased. She was a fixture in Nerano, one of the unlettered, wise old sages of the community, a guardian of local faith and values. She is responsible for the first verse, in quotes. Nerano is part of the town of Massa Lubrense on the Sorrentine peninsula.
2. Refers to Jean de La Bruyere (1654-1696), French moralist and philosopher.
3. Refers to the Casa Silentium, the residence of Norman Douglas while he wrote Siren Land (1911).

 

 

SUNSET OVER POSILLIPO

 

Gusts of wind

the ruby clouds

behind Posillipo

twist like branches.

 

The rapture of the view

widens the eye

to the finite space

of our grand being.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Maree”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 64)

 

 

ABSENCES

 

Among the nets piled

at Corricella

moments of solitude

as the breeze

strikes her colors.

 

Rose yellow

blue green water

a weary bell tolls twice

but repents,

the brine wind

stirs and is joined

by rows of boats

that move upon the waters.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Passato e presente”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 114)

 

 

MONTE DI PROCIDA¹  

 

From here

I behold

the soul of Miseno,

the light-house amidst

the green

and the bare rock.

 

And the dead sea

and Mt. Vesevo²

and the Lattari³

and Nisida

and Capri

and the park of Posillipo

 

midst foliage and pines

direct and close

 

from here

from the mount

that looks at Ischia

and Procida.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Passato e presente”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 116)

notes:

1. Monte di Procida is the high vantage point at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples.
2. Vesevo: archaic/poetic for Vesuvius.
3. The Lattari mountains form the backbone of the Sorrentine peninsula.

 

 

NAPLES 1822

 

Fire spirals into

the night of the gulf

 

Somma¹ is calm,

the other mouth

rends the air

with endless spasms

like bolts down to the sea.

 

At the San Vincenzo pier

sundry fishermen

spread their nets

while tiny boats

their lateen sails unfurled

but motionless

wrap the sight

in curious embrace.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Passato e presente”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 152)

notes:

1. Mt. Vesuvius is more properly called Somma-Vesuvius, referring to the two main cones; Somma is the smaller of the two and on the left as seen from Naples and in most paintings of eruptions.

 

 

WITH ELSA

 

Memory does not rust time

but holds

like solid wood.

 

In your little garden

the green lemon trees

sky-blue heaven

fadeless amaranth upon the sea

roses in Terra Murata

resist the sunset,

the sunset of time.

 

It is true

that I must live

every day

as my day.

 

I glady give myself

to the sun

that now has set

behind the volcano.

 

Vivid the sky

vivid the soul.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 188)

 

 

CETARA¹  

 

The tower trembles

from the blows of the sea

the tuna leaps free

from the purse-seine²

free in the waves

taken by the cry of the sea.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 204)

notes:

1. Cetera is a small port town on the Amalfi Coast.
2. The poet uses a precise term, cianciola, for the kind of fishing net called, in English, purse-seine; that is, a net that may be pursed or drawn into the shape of a bag, used for catching shoal fish.

 

 

MARONTI¹  

 

The shoreline winds

to Sant’Angelo

where tiny holes

in the sand spurt and

quicken the air

with signs of smoke

 

mystery of the island

whose bowels hide

the depths of Hades² and

the mystery of what may come

 

I miss my lost friend

taken by the eternal dilemma,

 

to live boldly like the great cats

or die that Hades

might hide his remains

in Canopic vases.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 209)

notes:

1. Maronti is the name of a beach on the island of Ischia.
2. Hades is used here to mean the kingdom of the dead .
3. “Canopic vases” refers to the jars in which the ancient Egyptians placed the entrails of their mummies. The word derives from Canopus, the bright star n the southern constellation Argo.

 

 

CITARA¹  

 

The lighthouse at

Punta Imperatore

hovers o’er the reef

along the beach

and the algae ravaged by autumn

 

The reef of urchins

whose eggs

my faithful friend

offers me as a gift

 

even today

after twenty years.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 210)

notes:

1. Citara refers to the bay and beach of that name on the island of Ischia.

 

 

AT SEA

 

Just off Vivara¹

a distant beacon gleams

from Punta Carena²

to herald sunset.

 

I glance and see Epomeo.³

 

Streaks of rose

then ruby

hang o’er the island

at the end of this hot day

of late autumn

as night falls

and stills the breath,

 

but not mine,

I await the sudden lights

of Procida and those nearby,

like a blind man craving light.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 211)

notes:

1. Vivara is a small, satellite isle of the island of Procida.
2. Punta Carena is at the SW tip of the isle of Capri; there is a large lighthouse there.
3. Epomeo is the highest point on the island of Ischia.

 

 

CASAMICCIOLA¹ 

 

A cut to the stems

and the first mandarins

on the day of the Immacolata²

drop in the basket

their leaves fresh and green.

 

Unlike the yellow-red

persimmons you pass

that tinge the air and wet earth

with autumn.

 

The gardens are laden

with fruit on the hill

where the north-wind pounds,

at the Marina,

the spray of the sea is heedless

of the pungent yet sweet smells

of this earth of ours.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 214)

notes:

1. Casamicciola is a port town on the island of Ischia.
2. The Immacolata: the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, the day on which mandarin oranges are

traditionally harvested.

 

 

THE COAST, A FRAGMENT

 

The loveliest spot

where the tower stands,

cylindrical in front,

trim sides square the back,

water pounds restlessly

on the rocks

 

water mad in the flow and backwash

strong yellows

snapdragons, spring daisies

just blossomed

while warmth welcomes

the seated woman

bent to a book

that frees her from time

and the secret thoughts of memory.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 240)

 

 

CHANGES

 

The dawn brightens your eyes

with the hard light of diamonds

Awakening is an elegy to life

born to the all-consuming sun of spring.

 

Today is gloomy

it rains on the cactus,

the play of light on the sea

is oil on an ancient table.

 

If you turn into Trara Genoino¹

you find the countryside, Fornillo

and orange-lily bougonvillias

bursting colours

as the sun appears,

indeed, for it shines now

full on Positano

mirror of the sea and terraced realm.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il mare di dentro”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 242)

notes:

1. Trara Genoino: a part of Positano

 

 

PASSER, DELICIAE MEAE PUELLAE¹

 

From my corner of the world

in this silent and unreal Naples,

insistent chirps of nesting birds

attend the dawn of a new day

as when no wind stirs the leaves

at the Certosa.

 

A few grey lines in the light-blue sky,

a music staff with some secret melody.

 

I’d like to sing a hymn of joy

because I think of you

but today your sparrow died

it no longer sings or flies

and you are no longer free.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 282)

notes:

1. Passer, deliciae meae puellae (“Sparrow, my lady’s pet…”) is a quote in Latin of the first line of Catullus 2, a poem by Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BC) that describes the affectionate relationship between an unnamed “puella” (possibly Catullus’ lover, Lesbia), and her pet sparrow.

 

 

TRAGARA

 

The infinite gives a sense of peace,

a moment of annulling death

that stops at your door.

 

How I envy the age-old soul

of certain trees,

that do anything to survive.

 

On Capri they inhale the salty air

and the iodine and the privilege

of dwelling on an island

far from the dejection

far from the foul odor

that now descends on the mainland

far from the foul odor of men

who no longer have the dignity

to act like Men.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 292)

notes:

1. Tragara refers to Punta Tragara, a geological feature on Capri.

 

 

DA JERANTO

 

Every evening the olive trees, aged by centuries,

and sunset over Capri–enchanted eyes behold

and are stunned, for even with the same palette,

the colors change, like clear sky and the clouds.

 

What endless shapes they form!

 

The olives wait in nets for mules,

then leave this magic place

where they came of age;

The oil-press awaits them, they shall give from Jeranto

the essence of the glowing sun that sets beyond the Faraglioni;

ancient wounds of Creation are now healed;

everlasting return of the living and dead.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 300)

 

 

 

SAN LIBERATORE¹  

 

This cetrangolo² is from San Liberatore,

bitter as a day of spring rain

on a colourful town in the South³

 

But taste the bitter slices

with cane sugar on them

and see what the life of man is,

a mix of bitter and sweet

of highs and lows

 

Jeranto is windy and yellow with flowers,

it’s usually sweet when the bay is at peace,

then think of the bitter

when it’s time to leave.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 306)

notes:

1. San Salvatore is a small town overlooking Marina della Lobra near Massa Lubrense on the Sorrentine peninsula.
2. The poet uses the unusual but precise Italian name of the fruit, cetrangolo. It is a crisp citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. The scientific name is Citrus maxima; common names in English are pomelo, pummelo and shaddock.
3. …the South, specifically southern Italy. The poet uses the term Mezzodì, a synonym of Mezzogiorno, meaning southern Italy.

 

 

MOUNT COSTANZO

 

I have trod in your footsteps

I have seen with your eyes

I have held fast to memories of you,

to your places of contemplation.

The rust in my mind

has not eroded even one.

Jeranto,* San Costanzo high above,

where the silence spoke your name,

and of your generous soul,

there just a step from heaven.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 318)

*A bay on the Sorrentine peninsula

 

 

SECRET AND ANCIENT NAPLES

In the heart of magic Sanità¹
sunken mysterial voices
of animulae vagulae et blandulae²
from deep Cumaean chambers hewn with blood
from wounds of ancient hands
invade the mind.
It flees in surprise and disbelief
to the aspidistra and red fire of camellias,
to the paths of lemons, plums and mandarines—
the true joy of this secret garden.
By soft dim torchlight on a fair summer’s eve
in these depths of most ancient Naples,
this hallowed spot—serene, unexpected, still—
laden with history in apotropaic rock.
The solid blocks, grave and low,
intone their tales, their memories—
radioactive, electric, eternal, through the ages
like the poetry of ancient Greece
in a world both formed and unformed,
like the voices, the thread between life and death,
between pagan beliefs and Christian.

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 346)

1. Sanità is one of the oldest area of Naples.
2. The Latin phrase (line 3) is proverbial in Italian and left untranslated in the poem. It is from Hadrian’s poem that starts “Animulae vagulae et blandulae/hospes comesque corpis…”—roughly, “Little souls, wandering and faint/guests and companions of my body…”.

 

SANTA MARIA DEL CASTELLO

 

At the castle of Positano

rubrato aglianico¹ runs in their veins

in your name,

a dense fog covers

Sant’Angelo a tre Pizzi²

like the heath of the distant North,

 

you who rule the mountains and sea

as far as the Faraglione of Tiberius Augustus,

you have seen Saracens storm

the myths, the buzzing coasts and fishermen,

and seen them flee with the others up up

the ragged steps to the Castle.

 

you have seen that angel of my daughter

gather the yellow cobs along the long steps

that lead to a Church and a Cross, now hers.

 

Here there is only peace,

Zephyr breathes from Elysian Fields.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 359)

notes:

1. Rubra Aglianico is a popular wine in Campania. Rubra refers to the dark ruby-like color of the grape; Aglianico is the name of the wine. The vine originated in Greece and was brought to the south of Italy by Greek settlers.
2. Sant’Angelo a tre Pizzi is a mountain near Positano in the Lattari range near Positano.

 

 

RAVELLO

 

The last day of autumn

marsia paestum  “Good for what ails you.”¹

 

Not a day of mist, but like the

serene light in Primo Vere.⁽²⁾

 

Parsifal started here and

here is where the Norman queen⁽³⁾

opened her heart to the southern sun.

 

Here Arab ogive⁽⁴⁾ and

Romanesque arches wed,

 

where even papyrus thrived,

the ducal and byzantine parchment

 

the colours now spent will burst

at the next equinox

across the gamma of warm tones of the heart,

and will speak in the language of flowers,

speak of our souls and happy moments.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 360)

notes:

1. Marsia paestum is a local wine. “Good for….” The original Italian was “ogni male stuta,” a pun on the Neapolitan proverb “la ruta ogni male stuta.” Ruta is rue, a plant widely used for medicinal purposes.
2. Primo Vere is the title of the first book (pub. 1879) by Italian author Gabriele d’Annuzio (1863-1938). It is an account of his youth. The Latin title means “At the beginning of spring.”
3. “Norman queen” is a reference to Costanza d’Altavilla, queen of Sicily and mother of Frederick II.
4. An ogive arch is a pointed arch used in the Near East in pre-Islamic as well as Islamic architecture.

 

 

THE BAY OF NAPLES

 

At the highest point, today,

up there where once fire ruled,

Vesuvius is garbed in snow,

above the slope and plain

it wears the laurels of beauty

unmatched in the Bay of Naples,

nordic Goethe gleaned her marvels with reserve,

how the colors stand out from the city,

her characters and men,

the human misery

and the haughty pomp of power.

 

He saw just the white of Etna

from the heights of the Monti Rossi¹,

of Sterminator Vesevo just the red fire

and in mid-spring the fragrant broom

from which Leopardi made poetry

just a step from this city, fertile, oft fercious,

that had taken and inspired him in youth.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 365)

notes:

1.The Monti Rossi, the Red Mountains, are two cones on the slopes of Mt. Etna in Sicily. They were formed by a powerful eruption in 1669.

 

 

FROM CETARA

 

Between half-sleep and dream

oblivion and memory

you rest at the foot of the Tower.

sturdy and proud guardian of Punto Licosa,

it holds back the waves and the warm south wind

and the hours of our conscience or  idleness,

the course of the sun waits to turn and look

on that which is and that which is not,

the night of reason

the light of day.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Il viaggio della vita”, in “Poesie” 1998-2010, Napoli 2011, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 380)

 

 

Come non ricordarsi di quel giorno

con gli amici conosciuti

tra i fiordi della Norvegia

e ora insieme con me

nel piccolo borgo marinaro

dell’isola di Mimante

dolcemente addormentata

nei Campi Flegrei,

dove solo i gabbiani

e il tocco delle campane

rompono il silenzio

dove solo qui alla Corricella

i colori pastello delle case

le une sulle altre arroccate

si riflettono sul mare

e gli archi rampanti toccano il cielo.

 

L’anima di ciascuno di noi

può qui contemplare

ciò che veramente è il silenzio

il silenzio eterno in inverno.

 

Qualche goccia di pioggia

cambia questo paesaggio irreale,

ma per poco, tutto torna alla calma

 

e i raggi del sole

una bella amicizia riscaldano,

noi seduti all’aria aperta

attorno a una tavola

con del buon vino bianco

e ben freddo.

 

Napoli, 13 gennaio 2012

 

 

How can I not recall that day

with friend on the fjords of Norway

who are with me now

at the small port on

the isle on Mimas⁽¹⁾

gently cradled in the Campi Flegrei.

where only the gulls and the peal

of a church-bell break the silence,

where only here at Coricella

the pastel colours of the houses

mounted like a castle one upon the other

are mirrored in the sea

and the rampant arches touch the heavens.

 

Each of our souls

can ponder here

what silence truly is,

the eternal silence in winter.

 

Drops of rain briefly change

this unreal landscape

but it is calm again

 

The rays of the sun,

a dear friend, bring us warmth

as we sit round a table

in the open air

with a good cold white wine.

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “L’amour et le violon”, Napoli 2012, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 56)

notes:

1. The isle of Mimas (in Italian, Mimante): the island of Procida. In Greek mythology, Mimas was one of the Titans of Zeus thrown into the sea as punishment. Mimas landed at Procida. His struggles, as well of those of the other Titans bound in the sea nearby, to free themselves, were the mythological cause of eruptions and earthquakes.

 

 

VESUVIANA

Il tuo Vesuvio è donna

adagiata sui crateri,

sinuose le linee di fuoco

solari le curve oblunghe

sostengono arditi seni,

che guardano il cielo

e accarezzano i pensieri

travolti dalla tramontana,

che sconvolge fino a Capri

le nuvole.

Il tuo Vesuvio è donna

abbarbicata al nostro

essere soli, sospesa sul mare

azzurro del nostro Golfo,

protesa ad arco nelle viscere

della terra madre,

lì dove ha tutto origine.

 

Napoli, 30 gennaio 2013

 

VESUVIANA

Your Vesuvius is woman,

gently resting on the craters.

lithe the lines of fire

drawn-out solar curves

form the daring bosom

watching the heavens,

caressing the thoughts

brought by the north-wind

that tussles the clouds on Capri.

Your Vesuvius is woman,

clinging to our solitude

hung o’er the blue sea of our Gulf,

an arc stretched from  the womb

of mother earth

where all things begin.

 

Naples, January 30, 2013

 

(in Giacomo Garzya, “Un anno”, Napoli 2013, M. D’Auria Editore, p. 35)

 

N.B. Le poesie a fronte in italiano si possono leggere nelle rispettive Raccolte di appartenenza cliccando POESIE EDITE, LETTERE, MANOSCRITTI nella HOME di questo mio sito web  https://www.maree2001.it